Cover caption(s)
Ethnographic Documentaries and Public Anthropology
Ethnographic documentaries are a shop window for anthropology. These cover photos represent three well received films shown at the most recent RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film held at Leeds Metropolitan University in July. The festival is a biennial event at which visual anthropologists, filmmakers and documentarists mingle.
The front cover image is from the film Black mountain. A once unremarkable site of multi-faith pilgrimage to a Sufi saint has been transformed and its local history rewritten. The film documents the journey of Charlotte Whitby-Coles, a PhD student who, whilst researching religious pilgrimages, stumbled on the politicization of a pilgrimage site in western India. Her research suggests that Kalo Dungar (Black Mountain), situated in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, provides a micro-example of current political issues in India today that threaten the ideal of ‘unity in diversity’ for the country.
The top image on the back cover is taken from Between the lines, a film by Thomas Wartman on India’s ‘third gender’ that follows photographer Anita Khemka as she explores the hidden hijra subculture of Bombay. Khemka is fascinated by the spiritual powers of the outcast hijras – biological men who dress as women but reject identification with either gender. Accompanying three hijras, Khemka discusses intimate details – their matriarchal surrogate families, castration ceremonies, sexuality, begging and prostitution. Khemka’s ability to initiate personal dialogue about persistent cultural stereotypes of gender provides insight into a social group currently at the forefront of the fight for gender equality in India.
The lower image is from the film Enet Yapai by Daniela Vavrova. Enet Yapai was six years old when Vavrova first met her in 2005 in Ambonwari village, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Between November 2007 and April 2008 she followed Enet and her mother Alexia on their way to process sago, catch fish or collect grass for baskets and mats. This experimental film captures the subtleties of the interaction between Enet Yapai, the camera and the filmmaker.
For details of the prizes awarded at the festival, see p. 29 of this issue or http://www.raifilmfest.org.uk.
